


Safety Net

by lostandlonelybirds (RUNNFROMTHEAK)



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Batfam Week 2020, Batman: A Death in the Family, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Day One - Overprotective, Dick Grayson's Hard-on for self-flagellation, Guilt, Guilty Dick Grayson, M/M, Overprotective Dick Grayson, Post-Forever Evil (Comics), Protective Dick Grayson, Self-Sacrifice, Unbetaed we die like Dick bc his death wasn’t FUCKING FAKED YOU ABSOLUTE BASTARDS, as always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:15:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23085373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RUNNFROMTHEAK/pseuds/lostandlonelybirds
Summary: They call him overprotective, but he’s failed so many times that it never feels like enough.Maybe Jason doesn’t need it, and maybe Tim and Cass and Bruce don’t either, but he’s not willing to take that risk, not when that risk had cost him Damian.So he stays dead. Not just for Bruce, but for everyone. It’s better this way, better if he can save his friends and family from being unmasked, from being ripped apart in front of the world the same way he’d been – exposed, humiliated, tortured and ruined.He won’t let anyone else pay that price, he won’t fail.Dick Grayson’s selfish enough to suffer so he doesn’t have to see others in pain, and even Jason’s fists can’t make him regret it.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Comments: 37
Kudos: 400





	Safety Net

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I can explain … XD  
> WIPs will be worked on tonight, I have no clue what I'll come up with but we'll see. Also, be on the look out for more Batfam. I love all the prompts, so there's going to be a shit ton done (Like I legit might do all three for every day oof)

His relationship with his first successor—or replacement—was, and still _is_ complicated. Initially, Dick had been shitty, he’s emotionally aware enough to admit that. He’d been pissed off at Bruce and angry at him for taking away Dick’s monument to his parents, his mantle that wasn’t supposed to _be_ a mantle, but even if it had been, it was _his_ to hand down _damnit_. He’d been bitter and jaded, cast aside from the home he’d never thought would be his home, rejected by the father who said he wasn’t his father ~~( _“You will **always** have a home here, Dick, no matter what.” But Bruce’s words didn’t mean anything, did they? Not when his anger came up, not when he felt righteous in his stance_)~~ so _of course_ he’d seen the orphan that resembled Bruce even more than Dick did, who Bruce _actually adopted_ and who Bruce _actually smiled at and joked with and ~~fuck Dick still isn’t over that, not when he’d tried so hard for so long and not gotten a damn thing in return~~_ …

He’d been jealous, and he’d directed that at Jason because Bruce was _used to it_ and _didn’t seem to give a damn_ and Jason kept following him, kept trying to talk to him, _~~and had the audacity to correct him on what Robin was fucking meant for, what did **he** know~~_ and Dick snapped, kept snapping, and it wasn’t right, wasn’t fair _~~but neither was kicking him from his home, his family, as if he’d never meant anything, **Bruce**~~_.

So yes, even before Jason had died alone in a warehouse while Dick was off with the Titans in space, even before Dick had died _~~but not really, it had only been for seconds, minutes, and he’d just had a pill forced down his throat and been suffocated, he hadn’t been beaten to death and blown up~~_ their relationship had been _complicated_. But Dick _did_ love his Little Wing, even if it took him time. He cared more than Jason cared to hear.

“ _His name was Jason, right?”_

He’d never told Jason about it, didn’t want to deal with the Bruce-anger sure to follow ( _he has enough trouble handling his own anger at Bruce for it, he couldn’t deal with Jason’s on top of that_ ), but he’d killed Joker for saying Jason’s name. Tim played a factor, _of course_ , but it was Jason’s name and the taunts and the sight of the broken gravestone in the rain (“ _ ~~You can call me, Little Wing, if you need me. I’ll be there.” And there was one voice mail message from Jason, hours before his death, and Dick hadn’t been there~~_ ) and the anguish at his Little Wing’s memory that made him lose it, made him see red like he had in the video Joker had sent them, like he had when he woke up screaming from nightmares he _wished_ he could forget. He’d seen red and he’d beaten the clown until his _body_ matched his fucking **_smile_** ( _and he’d regretted it, initially, but every time he looked at the Arkham feeds and saw the Joker grin, every time he saw a crowbar left in an alley way, he didn’t. He wished he’d hit harder, longer, wished he’d blown him up and cast the ashes into the Marina fucking Trench, not that he’d ever admit that to Jason or Bruce_ ). He wishes he could regret it, when he wakes up dripping in sweat not because he’d _killed_ the Joker, but because it hadn’t fucking _stuck_. He wishes a lot of things.

He hadn’t done it consciously, the murder, _~~and wouldn’t Bruce **love** to hear that, what a great role model Dick makes~~_, but he thinks part of him had done it to protect Jason’s _memory_ the way he couldn’t protect his _life_ ( _and maybe that was insane, but his entire family and almost all his friends dressed up in Halloween outfits to fight themed criminals like **Condiment Man** so he’s allowed to be less than sane, okay?_).

He’s never… _felt_ like he was a good brother to Jason when he’d needed him to be, a good mentor, or predecessor, or _anything_ , really. He’d been so full of negativity that he hadn’t appreciated Jason until it’d been his final months at the manor, and by the time they’d finally _finally_ bridged that gap of resentment, Jason had _died_ and he’d _called Dick for help_ and Dick hadn’t answered.

But he _had_ been a good brother with Jason, once, back before Jason had died during those amazing three months where they’d been friends, almost brothers. He’d gotten a kick out of jumping in on Jason’s fights, on taking on opponents before Jason could leap at them and beating the ever-lovin’ _hell_ out of the ones that did manage to get the drop on Jason.

“ _You’re such a worry-wart, Dickface. Fuckin’ stop fussin’!_ ”

_Jason would slap his hands away from his curly hair, an adorable glare crinkling his mask._

“ _Aww, Little Wing, are you telling me you **didn’t** miss me?”_

 _And Jason would flush, crossing his arms but not pushing Dick away when he went in for a hug_.

And maybe that makes him _more_ protective now, because he didn’t protect him enough back then, when it had counted. It makes him more violent, the same way he is with Tim and Dami and Steph and even Cass ( _because he’s their big brother, and even if they don’t need his protection or his vengeance, they have it_ ).

And maybe that’s ridiculous, when Jason’s an adult and perfectly capable of protecting himself, of avenging himself, but Dick isn’t exactly the most logical when it comes to family.

“ _You… took a bullet for me. Why the **fuck** would you do that, idiot?! I have more padding than you do!”_

Jason’s helmet is off, along with the domino he normally wore under it. Dick grins up at him, lazily, and he isn’t sure if it’s the blood loss, concussion, or the sight of his Little Wing’s face after months without seeing it that makes him feel so giddy.

“ _Gun was aimed at a weak point, Little Wing. Point between your armor plates, along your spine. It’s just a grazing, I’m good.”_

And Jason’s eyes narrow on him, jade greens such a contrast to the stormy cobalt blue they’d been before, and it just makes Dick cup Jason’s cheek, trying to dispel his worries.

“ _I’m okay, Little Wing._ ”

Jason flushes, the same way he had when he’d been younger, but Dick notices that he doesn’t throw Dick’s hand off.

“ _I didn’t ask, now did I?_ ”

Jason snarks, but it’s half-hearted. Dick smiles up at him.

“ _Didn’t have to.”_

They’d been building towards something before Dick had died, something _more_ than friendship and not quite brotherhood. It had been quiet, comfortable, something hidden and preserved on rooftops late at night, scattered between Dick’s apartments and Jason’s safe houses, paused between Batfamily drama and Outlaw work and picked up whenever they had the chance. It had been _respect_ and _affection_ and _vulnerability_ …

“ _Are you okay?”_

_Jason asks, and it’s such a loaded question, a **funny** question that Dick laughs so he doesn’t cry._

_“My childhood home was apparently a child trafficking ring that was grooming me to be a bird-themed assassin for Gotham’s Elite, which I have **no** clue whether or not my parents knew about, Joker figured out my identity and destroyed the last of Haly’s circus by murdering a bunch of people, and to top that off, everyone in my childhood home not connected to the Court of Owls had a plot to kill me that Joker didn’t even have to push for, so yeah, I’m **great**.”_

_Jason pulls him in for a hug, and Dick almost melts into the embrace, into the casual affection he never though he’d get from Jason._

_“I’ll be okay,” he says as an afterthought, voice muffled slightly by Jason’s jacket._

_He feels Jason’s breath tickle his ear, chin resting on Dick’s shoulder, gentle, Jason was painfully gentle in moments like this._

_“You will, but until then, you can be not okay with me. I won’t tell.”_

_And Dick almost kisses him, almost leans up to match his lips against Jason’s, but he’s afraid, and he’s just been burned **again** by a long-gone ex, so he just clings to him instead._

…Even if they’d never labelled it, them, partially because Jason’s never actually had a healthy relationship (ever) and partially because Dick is _bad_ at being vulnerable, too afraid of what others would think and afraid of ruining Jason’s relationship with the rest of the family. They sit teetering on the edge of more, and then Dick _dies_ , and any chance of having what they’d had before is lost long before he returns and is greeted with the Red Hood’s fists, right around the time Bruce beats him into submission and he lies to everyone he’s ever cared about.

“ _They know my identity, **his** identity…”_

And Bruce doesn’t even have to mention the Joker incidents ( _Jason’s death, the family gathering_ ) to connect the two, to hear the _~~not threat~~ _warning in his voice, the warning in Spyral’s existence. He knows as he’s leaving that Jason will never forgive him, that no one will, and he thinks he’s okay with that if it means protecting them the way he’s _failed to_ so many times.

They call him overprotective, but he’s failed so many times that it never feels like enough.

Maybe Jason doesn’t need it, and maybe Tim and Cass and Bruce don’t either, but he’s not willing to take that risk, not when that risk had cost him Damian.

So he stays dead. Not just for Bruce, but for everyone. It’s better this way, better if he can save his friends and family from being unmasked, from being ripped apart in front of the world the same way he’d been – exposed, humiliated, tortured and ruined.

He won’t let anyone else pay that price, he won’t fail.

~~Dick Grayson’s selfish enough to suffer so he doesn’t have to see others in pain, and even Jason’s fists can’t make him regret it.~~

**Author's Note:**

> Hehehehehehehehhehehehehehhehehhehehehehhehehehe


End file.
